The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing portable, tube-like packs from printing products, such as a newspaper or periodical.
An apparatus of the described type is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,793. The apparatus has a stub shaft which is rotatable about its longitudinal axis and from which two fingers protrude in the axial direction. The longitudinal axes of the fingers are located in one axial plane together with the horizontal axis of rotation running centrally between them. At a standstill, this plane runs in the vertical direction, so that the printing product to be processed can be manually inserted between the fingers in the approximately horizontal direction. In this case, the printing product, a newspaper, is brought to bear against a stop parallel to the longitudinal axis by its edge opposite the fold, so that on the other side of the axial plane the printing product projects with a narrow edge region beyond the fingers. Arranged underneath the fingers is a counterelement, which has pressing rollers running parallel to the axis of rotation. For rolling the printing product, the fingers are turned about the axis of rotation, so that after half a revolution the printing product is bent around the one finger, facing the counterelement, and bears with its end region, facing the fold, flat on the upper side of the part of the printing product facing the stop. Upon further turning, these two mutually adjacent product regions are thus bent around the other finger and then the remaining part of the printing product is rolled up upon further turning of the fingers. Above the fingers there is a supply device for feeding a film-like retaining element. This device has a swivel-mounted feed arm, which inserts the edge section of a film web, unwound from a supply roller, from above into the gap between the mutually facing parts of the already partially rolled printing products. The film web is then rolled up together with the printing product, a desired tensile stress being built up and maintained in the film by means of a pair of dancer rollers. Once the newspaper has been completely rolled, the roll is further wrapped around by the film web and, upon swivelling back the feed arm, the film web is severed by means of a heating wire, so that the rolled-up end section forms a sheath for the printing product. For separating the finished pack from the fingers, the pressing rollers, which press the newspaper against the fingers during rolling, is swivelled away from the pack and the latter is manually drawn off the winding mandrel in the axial direction. This known apparatus requires manual operation, and considerable time for producing the pack.
An apparatus for rolling up printing products generated in imbricated formation and wrapping around the rolled-up printing products with a film-like retaining element to form a portable pack is known from EP-A-0 313 781 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,909,015. By means of a belt conveyor, the printing products are fed in imbricated formation to a winding point, where they are wound up onto a winding mandrel by means of a looping-around strap. A supply device for the film web opens out from below into the feed path of the printing products. From a rotatably supported supply roller, the film web runs around a fixed-in-place deflecting roller to a conveying roller, driven in start/stop operation. Between the latter and the feed path of the printing products there is a conveyor belt which is driven in permanent circulation and against which the film web bears in certain regions in order to tension itself and keep itself under tensile stress. There also bears against the film web, between the supply roller and the deflecting roller, a weight roller, in order to keep the film web tensioned. When feeding the printing products to the winding mandrel, the end region of the imbricated formation is provided with the film web at substantially the same speed as the conveying speed, by the conveying roller being connected to the drive. A heating wire then severs the film web, so that, after rolling on around the wound-up printing products, the detached section sheathes the latter, in order to hold the pack together and protect it against environmental effects. The finished pack is then pushed off the winding mandrel by means of an ejector. This known apparatus is designed for rolling up printing products generated in imbricated formation.
Further apparatuses for winding up printing products generated in imbricated formation and sheathing the rolled-up printing products with a retaining element to form portable packs are known from EP-A-0 474 999 or the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,610 and EP-A-0 243 906 or the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,548.
An apparatus for rolling up a single printing product together with a film-like retaining element to form a tube-like portable pack is described in the older Swiss Patent Application No. 01 440/92-0. This apparatus has a slit winding mandrel, so that the fingers formed as a result are unsubstantially further apart than the thickness of the printing product to be wound up. The latter is introduced between the fingers by means of belt conveyors in the horizontal direction, the printing product being provided with a section of a film web which grips around the leading edge of the printing product and projects beyond the trailing edge. The printing product is inserted so far into the gap that the leading edge is approximately at the end of the gap. The winding mandrel rests on a belt conveyor arrangement, which acts during turning of the winding mandrel as a counterelement and bends the printing product around the one finger and then, during rolling, presses against the outer side of the winding mandrel. As soon as the section of the retaining element projecting beyond the trailing edge of the printing product is wound up, the winding mandrel is moved out in the axial direction from the pack thus formed and the pack is conveyed away, by the belt conveyor arrangement continuing to be driven and by stopping a pressing device of a ribbon conveyor type bearing against the pack.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus of the described type which is suitable for automatic operation and has a great processing capacity.